Star Wars: Skeleton Crew will arrive on Disney+ on December 3, 2024. When it does, new and old Star Wars fans will see new adventures of a group of curious kids who go on an adventure involving secret treasure. When pulling together the young cast for this series, creator Jon Watts looked to the man who wrote the book on a young cast that goes on an adventure. This was the director of The Goonies, the late Richard Donner.
Just weeks before he passed, Watts had the opportunity to talk to Richard Donner about casting Skeleton Crew. “And he said the smartest thing, which was when you’re looking at a 10-year-old kid, you’re not [just] casting an actor to play a role,” Watts recalls. “You’re looking for someone that embodies the spirit of the character. So that’s what was always in the back of my mind.”
The story of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is set in the era of the New Republic. It also carries much of the spirit of The Goonies. It also has the same spirit as other adventure stories during that era, this includes the classic LucasArts game Monkey Island, Amblin Entertainment’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones franchise. “It’s the story of kids who happen to live on what they think of as a boring planet,” says series co-creator Chris Ford. But as they go on this adventure, finding their way back quickly becomes complicated. “Unfortunately, along the way they attract the attention of a bunch of pirates and other space criminals.”
“I loved Monkey Island as a kid and I still do, and so getting to do space pirates was something that allowed me to check back in,” says Watts, including carrying Marti Matulis’ Vane over from The Mandalorian Season 3 and introducing a bevy of new brigands including Brutus, voiced by Fred Tatasciore, and Gunter, played by Jaleel White. “And Amblin always stands out to me because there was a feeling that they took the kids seriously. They didn’t feel like kids’ movies when you watched them as a kid, and even now looking back, they feel like grown up films that just happened to star kids.”
The idea for Skeleton Crew actually has been around for some time. It was born before the two filmmakers released Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017. This film also had a young character who is suddenly thrust into the center of adventure and excitement. “I think many of us craved that same feeling of escape and empowerment when we were younger,” Ford adds. “We’ve all pondered our place in the universe, and this story explores the galaxy through a unique perspective, which is the curious mind of the child in all of us. In this case, an imaginative day dreamer, a risk taker, a loyal best friend and a tech wiz. These kids are in danger. They’re in over their heads.”
At the center of this group of kids is Wim and Neel and Fern and KB, two pairs of best friends. It has been confirmed the Neel is NOT the same species as Max Rebo. There is, however, a Teek and other nods to Star Wars storytelling through the years.
Ravi Cabot-Conyers was cast as Wim. The goal in casting Wim was finding someone who would have wide-eyed wonder as they discovered a much larger universe. “Wim is like a total starry-eyed dreamer who just rushes into any situation before he’s thought about it for one second, and that’s what Ravi is like,” Watts says with a laugh. “He gets so excited and that’s Wim. So, he was perfect.”
Ryan Kiera Armstrong portrays Fern. For Fern the filmmakers wanted an actor that could bring a duality much like Princess Leia. “Ryan is Fern,” Watts says. “We wanted a kid that was really smart and could play the good, sweet daughter of someone in the government, but also be a tough rebel trying to stand up to bullies. Ryan has that intelligence and duality. She’s a great actor and very thoughtful about her choices.”
Kyriana Kratter is KB in the series and Fern’s best friend. This character evolved as the show developed. The character really came to life when the filmmakers saw Kratter’s performance. “I remember when we saw Kyriana’s audition for KB and she was just kind of strangely quiet and thoughtful,” Ford says. “It was a very specific choice.”
Robert Timothy Smith plays Neel and also brings some humor to the series. “Robert was the total wild card,” Watts adds. “We initially thought of Neel as this sweet, shy little blue elephant-like alien. But Robert always came at it at this other oblique angle. He’s a comedian. He’s always telling jokes and doing bits, and it’s always really sweet. He’s just trying to get a rise out of you or a laugh. And that allowed us to try some different, funnier performance options to let Neel be a little bit more neurotic and unique.”
Neel is brought to life through a combination of facial motion capture, a suit performer, and an animatronic puppeteered head. Smith would ad-lib which then added layers of choreography for the entire crew bringing Neel to life. “Robert had all these gestures and physicality that you would never expect,” Watts says.
Jude Law portrays a mysterious character named Jod Na Nawood. “Before we met him, we wanted to cast him,” Ford admits. “We wanted that sense of roguishness and that feeling that he’s a leading man that happens to get stuck with these kids.”
Thankfully, Jude Law was game for the role. “I remember the first time we got on the phone with him and he was so excited to delve into the character and make him so nuanced and real,” Ford adds. “He had so many ideas and that’s when we learned that he’s a giant Star Wars fan, which is a gift.”
Law was also game to perform in the unique environment that Star Wars creates. This includes an array of puppet creatures, aliens, and droids with who he acted. “Jude going toe-to-toe with a tiny little hand puppet really brings out a different kind of performance,” Watts says.
Nick Frost also is in the cast, voicing a new droid named SM-33. Co-stars Kerry Condon and Tunde Adebimpe, play Fern’s mom, Fara, and Wim’s dad, Wendle.
“We prerecorded a lot of Nick’s dialogue so that on set the droid would be speaking with his voice,” Watts says. “That was really helpful for the other actors because Nick has such great and specific comedic timing that it helped everyone understand the tone and the vibe of SM-33.” Exactly as Star Wars have come to expect through the year, SM-33 has his own distinct personality. This adds both humor and levity to some serious moments during the adventures. On set, when new lines were added, the directors would each attempt to do their own SM-33 impressions. This led to some humorous results.
The tone for this series was inspired by the Amblim films that Watts and Ford watched in their formative years. It also has some of the thrills of Predator and some serious beats of Empire of the Sun and Flight of the Navigator. The duo shared how they were encouraged to find their own perspective and story and then view it through the lens of the Star Wars galaxy. “It was an instinct we had from the beginning,” Ford says. “And then later talking to [executive producers] Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni about the way to approach trying to write in Star Wars, [they advised we] tap into something that you love. You can’t just do Star Wars, because then you’re kind of aping it. You’re trying to do what George Lucas did and he was trying to make Flash Gordon or a Kurosawa movie.”
“It was fascinating talking to Dave about his conversations with George and his original Star Wars influences,” adds Watts. “That really helped open our minds about the right way to approach the universe and figure out if something feels correct or not.”
To prepare for the process of making this series, the filmmakers watched some of their own favorite adventure stories along with the films that influenced George Lucas when he originally created Star Wars. “We went back and watched a bunch of pirate serials and classic pirate films from the twenties and thirties,” Watts shared how there needed to be a dichotomy in this story they were creating. “It was important to create that tension, showing that the galaxy is scary and dangerous and that the galaxy is also peaceful and boring,” he adds.
There are a lot of nods and references to other Star Wars stories throughout the years that fans will enjoy seeing when they watch Skeleton Crew. It also is a series that is a good place for first-time fans to enter the world of Star Wars. “What’s great is you don’t have to know anything,” Watts says.
“Yeah, I want people to be excited and to have fun. That was Jon’s approach with Spider-Man. It’s fun to swing on webs, there’s lots of drama and pathos, too, but like let’s have fun with it,” agrees Ford. He also joked: “You don’t need to know anything about Star Wars — except a deep, deep knowledge of whether Ortolans have arms or not.” While the Max Rebo debate lives on, Neel is definitely a unique species.
Are you excited about the arrival of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on Disney+ on December 3rd? What are you most looking forward to with this series? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
